Will Florida Budge?
March 4, 2006: Florida continues its will-they-or-won’t-they dance on amending their law to allow adoption by people who are LGBT. If they do, it will be good news for the thousands of children in that state who are stuck in foster care. This is from 365Gay.com:
(Tallahassee. Florida) A House Republican leader said he would consider lifting or modifying the state’s 30-year-old ban on gay adoption, but only if the Senate takes similar action.
Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, said he would schedule a vote on a bill allowing gay foster parents to adopt children already in their care, but only if companion legislation resurfaces in the Senate, the Tallahassee Democrat reported first on Tuesday. Galvano chairs the House’s Future of Florida’s Families Committee.
Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption, while Mississippi and Utah have laws that restrict gay adoption. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not gay singles, from adopting, and Utah requires adopting parents to be married.
Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, introduced a similar bill earlier this month, but postponed the legislation indefinitely hours later when it became clear it would not survive its first committee vote.
Rich is still working with the foster parents and children’s advocates who testified at that meeting to convince lawmakers to reconsider, she said.
Meanwhile, Galvano said he will not put similar legislation introduced in the House on his committee’s agenda until the Senate bill’s gets stronger.
“I think the Senate hearing helped flush out the issue a bit, but it’s also an indication of how the bill is going to fare,” he said. “If the bill should come back and start moving in the Senate, then you’re looking at a bill that really has a life.”
So, when a bunch of idiot politians can decide who’s going blink first, maybe some children who need loving parents will finally find their way into waiting adoptive homes. Maybe.